JUNE 21, 2005

Charges begin to fly

The FIA has officially filed charges against the seven teams using Michelin tires that did not take part in Sunday's United States Grand Prix fiasco.

The letter sent to the teams earlier today was posted on the FIA website after being leaked to the media. The document states the teams "committed one or more acts prejudicial to the interests of a competition, namely the 2005 United States Grand Prix".

It says they failed to ensure they had a supply of suitable tires for the race, had wrongfully refused to allow their cars to start the race or compete with a speed restriction in one corner.

The letter goes on to accuse the teams of making a "demonstration damaging to the image of Formula One by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race". And finally failing to notify the stewards of their intention not to race, in breach of Article 131 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

The Michelin teams now must appear at the forthcoming meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which is to be held in Paris on June 29, 2005 to answer to these charges.

The teams involved are McLaren, Williams, Renault, Sauber, Toyota, Red Bull, and BAR, all of whom will have their own interpretation of what caused the debacle at Sunday's race.